My attitude. The fact that I (all things being equal) wish people well.
That attitude is probably a result of my upbringing and experiences, whether those were examples to follow or avoid, they all add up to how I feel and behave today.

I agree astrochuck your upbringing is a part of it going by your answer my house would have been the same. Also i think the friends that you have as in the kind of people they are. I know all my friends are very honest and open with each other and i learned from that and thats the kind of person i have turned out to be.

I think honesty and openness are the major keys in being a good person.

I too agree with astrochuck. I had great parents with good morals and values. Then life experiences took over from there molding me and teaching me an appreciation for my fellow man. I learned some hard lessons, and each of them taught me something different. My Father was very big on honesty. He said always tell the truth. You can remember what really happened. If you lie, it can come back to bite you in the butt later on. it’s hard to remember which lie you told to whom. He also punished us twice as much if he caught us in a lie. Once for the offence, and once for lying about it. it taught me to won up to things I did.

I believe it is in the way that person is raised! Learning through example. There were two things my grandfather taught or instilled(sp) in me and in turn, I did with my daughters. The first being.

To live each day as if someone is looking over your shoulders. And the second being.

That the most important characteristic or trait in a person, is their integrity! It is earned through honesty and being a good person. It is the foundation for which a person’s life is built on. Without it you have nothing, with it, I have everything!

I’ve always said, I don’t want to be known as a nice person, I want to be known as a good person!

To be human means to make lots of mistakes and hopefully to learn from them. I think to be a good person means that you turn something negative that has happened in your/someone else’s life and turn it into something positive.

I don’t know what it was that gave me the qualities that I am proud of. I believe my Dad and my (paternal) Grandmother helped shape me but I do think that a lot of my personality is just who I am. I am proud of the fact that I am very compassionate towards people and animals that appear helpless and innocent to the bad things that are happening to them and because of that I want to help them and if I can, I will. I’m not proud of much but I am proud of that particular personality trait.